You have planned a thoughtful public participation process. But often in public participation, no matter our best efforts, we are faced with cringe worthy stakeholder statements that are quickly becoming all too familiar. “It doesn’t matter what we say, you’re going to do it anyway.” “The decision’s already been made, so why should I participate?”

In this session, Katz & Associates will lead you in an exercise to explore whether we, as public participation practitioners, could be to blame for such statements. Did we set the wrong expectations? Were our communications unclear? Did we not reach the right people in the right amount of time? We’ll share our common experiences, pinpoint where on the IAP2 Spectrum we could have gone wrong, and collectively develop solutions for the most common errors facing practitioners today.

**This event is being sponsored by Katz & Associates and Lunch will be provided (vegan and vegetarian options available)**

We will examine if we have become desensitized to common public participation criticisms. We will take a critical look at whether we have fallen out of sync with public participation values and best practices as our outreach efforts are implemented over time and thus become routine or commonplace. We will remind attendees of the importance of going back to the basics rooted in three pillars for effective public participation processes (Code of Ethics, Core Values and Spectrum). By revisiting this foundation, we can help practitioners refocus on implementing public participation best practices in their everyday work.

We will send an email with the finalized details and an opportunity to RSVP in the new year. We hope you are enjoying this holiday season and we look forward to seeing you soon.